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Proximal Impact of Two First‐Grade Preventive Interventions on the Early Risk Behaviors for Later Substance Abuse, Depression, and Antisocial Behavior
Author(s) -
Ialongo Nicholas S.,
Werthamer Lisa,
Kellam Sheppard G.,
Brown C. Hendricks,
Wang Songbai,
Lin Yuhua
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1023/a:1022137920532
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , aggression , psychology , intervention (counseling) , health psychology , clinical psychology , substance abuse , fidelity , developmental psychology , public health , psychiatry , medicine , nursing , electrical engineering , engineering
We assessed the immediate effects of two universal, first‐grade preventive interventions on the proximal targets of poor achievement, concentration problems, aggression, and shy behaviors, known early risk behaviors for later substance use/abuse, affective disorder, and conduct disorder. The classroom‐centered (CC) intervention was designed to reduce these early risk behaviors by enhancing teachers' behavior management and instructional skills, whereas the family‐school partnership (FSP) intervention was aimed at improving parent‐teacher communication and parental teaching and child behavior management strategies. Over the course of first and second grades, the CC intervention yielded the greatest degree of impact on its proximal targets, whereas the FSP's impact was somewhat less. The effects were influenced by gender and by preintervention levels of risk. Analyses of implementation measures demonstrated that greater fidelity to the intervention protocols was associated with greater impact on behavior ratings and on achievement scores, thus providing some evidence of specificity in the effect of the interventions.